Focusing on four key chapters of a person’s life, Greer helps readers revise their health stories through journaling exercises and expanded-awareness practices based on Jungian and shamanic traditions. Learn why you have struggled to change your habits and be empowered to experience greater wellness within a satisfying health story.

Description

About Change the Story of Your Health

The story of our health is more in our control than we might think, according to clinical psychologist, Jungian analyst, and shamanic practitioner Carl Greer, PhD, PsyD. We can not only reframe our experiences but actually experience less stress, greater well-being, and even better physical health than it might appear if we are willing to identify our health story and begin rewriting it.

Through journaling exercises and expanded-awareness practices, many of which involve working with and in nature, and which are influenced by Jungian and shamanic traditions, anyone can tap into hidden resources for healing and work with them effectively. Whether gaining insights and balancing energies outdoors, dialoguing and interacting with the earth or a river or lake, or working with dreams, an inner healer, or a symbol encountered on a shamanic journey, readers will find they are able to learn why they have struggled to change their habits and will be empowered to experience greater wellness within a satisfying health story. "Change the Story of Your Health" focuses on four key chapters of a person’s health story:

• Eating and drinking, and weight • Movement/exercise, flexibility, balance, stamina, and strength • Sexuality, body image and acceptance, and changes due to midlife hormonal shifts (commonly known as menopause and andropause) • Management of an acute ailment or symptoms of a chronic condition

It also helps readers revise their health stories as their health changes as a result of aging or unexpected challenges. Gaining insights into their health, letting go of what is standing in the way of optimal health and well-being, and bringing in what is needed to make a preferred new health story a reality--all are possible when readers take on the challenge of "Change the Story of Your Health" and begin using the practices regularly.

Table of Contents

Table of content

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One: Your Health Has a Story and You Are the Storyteller
Chapter Two: Consciousness, Energy, and the Body
Chapter Three: What Is the Current Story of Your Health?
Chapter Four: Practices for Gaining Insights and Energy
Chapter Five: Write a New Story of Your Health
Chapter Six: Nature’s Healing Effects
Chapter Seven: Working with the Healing Elements of Nature
Chapter Eight: Revising the Story of Your Health
Chapter Nine: Healing Partnerships and Communities

Appendix: Expanded-Awareness Practices, Energy Medicine, And the Promise for Healing

Author Bio

Carl Greer PhD, PsyD is a practicing clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst using shamanic healing methods as his primary healing modality. After focusing on business for many years, he earned a doctorate in clinical psychology, and then became a Jungian analyst. For more info see: http://carlgreer.com

Book Praise

Book Praise

"Greer demonstrated in his first book, Change Your Story, Change Your Life, that our personal stories not only affect our lives but are very often written by family, environmental influences, and cultural context. Now he is applying that concept to physical health. As Baby Boomers age, health issues loom large on the world stage. Recognizing that this is the group that learned to meditate (in large part) because of The Beatles, he has merged his business acumen, clinical Jungian training, and shamanic experience into a healing protocol that will appeal to that market and the progeny that they have raised. He is telling them that if they change the story that they tell about health and wellness, they can change they way they experience those things in the physical world." Anna Jedrziewski, Retailing Insight

"Change the Story of Your Health: Using Shamanic and Jungian Techniques for Healing discusses alternative medical traditions that inject spirituality into the overall fields of physical and mental health, and comes from a clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst who has used these techniques, in conjunction with Western medicine, to help his own physical ailments and those of his clients. While a growing number of alternative medical books add a spiritual dimension, what is unusual in Change the Story of Your Health is its blend of specific Jungian techniques with shamanic approaches usually regulated to new age audiences; all this bundled with an attention to physical and personal health challenges that range from the effects of aging to sexuality and serious health ailments. Chapters advocate a series of practices designed to manage and mitigate these various obstacles to mental and physical health, and so readers receive the tools and specific exercises to incorporate new lifestyles, exercise, meditation and reflective strategies into their overall health routines. The focus is on identifying blocks to health, more fully understanding one's current state of health and the keys to maintaining or improving it, and on applying journaling and dialoging techniques to expand self awareness and tap inner resources for healing. An affinity for self-examination, self-directed exercises, and Jungian and shamanic approaches alike will be a prerequisite for successfully utilizing this book. Readers determined to take charge of their path towards optimal health will find Change the Story of Your Health contains a treasure trove of step-by-step processes designed to lend insights into and modifications of overall health and approaches to life." California Bookwatch

"This work on health and healing from a mind-body-spirit perspective is insightful and practical.
In Change the Story of Your Health, clinical psychologist Carl Greer explains how to create a transformative health story using shamanic and Jungian techniques. The unconscious power of stories unlocks opportunities for healing as well as improved vitality, confidence, and stamina.
"Always remember that you are the story teller," writes Greer, "and you do not have to live according to the dictates of a story written for you by your ONA, your past experiences and actions, or your cultural conditioning." Greer recommends writing the story of your health by focusing on four health chapters or themes: eating, drinking, and weight; movement and exercise; sexuality, body image, and body acceptance; and symptom management for chronic health conditions. For each chapter, he poses a page-plus of questions to expand thinking about the theme.
Next, the deep work begins. Exercises based on shamanic and Jungian archetypes are described to encourage greater health insights. These include working with elements in nature; dialoguing with figures, symbols, and spirit animals; and dream work. Preparation is discussed, and journaling afterward to bring the story to life is recommended.
Despite its use of alternative techniques, the book is practical, and is presented in a straight forward manner. Mini case studies show others' experiences with the energy exercises, and the changes they made as a result. Greer makes clear that the intention of this work is to complement and enhance, not replace, western medicine. He recommends that clients check with a medical doctor as symptoms are uncovered, and he relates some of his own health challenges. Learning about the latest research, assistive devices, and medical interventions is encouraged.
The work described here will take time, but anyone interested in improving health challenges or who is curious about alternative healing techniques will find this to be an insightful guide." Karen Auckland, Foreword Review

"Whatever health situation you might be facing, Change the Story of Your Health can help identify your health story and uses journaling and expanded awareness practices to begin changing it, leading to better health and wellness. As a companion to his book Change Your Story, Change Your Life, Greer offers shamanic and Jungian techniques to gain insights and energies for changing a unsatisfying health story. Besides journaling, he offers ways to dialog and interact with the earth, a river, wind, or fire. He also engages the chakras, dreams, symptoms, and the inner healer. Change the Story of Your Health is very much a workbook, not one to be read and set aside. It could be overwhelming due to the depth to which one could be led. However, it is the kind of book that could be life-changing and truly healing. This makes the risk of dipping in more than worth it." Krysta Gibson, New Spirit Journal

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Findhorn Press is an imprint of Inner Traditions which offers books, card sets, cds and, dvds that cover a wide range of mind, body, spirit topics such as nature, spirituality, alternative health (for both people and for animals), self-help, etc.